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| It was mid January when we drove south from Half Moon Bay to Pigeon Point Lighthouse and Ano Nuevo Park to see the elephant seals. We just experienced a few days of below freezing temperatures; however the weather today was beautiful - chilly but sunny. |
| Our daughter had invited us to join the kids for their nature homework project having to do with sea mammals. So, what a neat way to see elephant seals and learn about their habitats. |
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We stopped at the visitor's center to check in for our 2:00 pm reserved tour.
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| This white barn used to be a farm, but is now a museum. There are several items displayed inside and some whale bones outside which were of interest to the kids. |
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had to walk about a mile towards shore to meet our guide. "Right under
those trees to the left is where you will end up. That's where you meet
your guide who will take you to the beach and the elephant seals," we
were told. The hike was along a nice trail with native plants, a small lake and lots of hunting grounds for rabbits, bobcats and other wild life. However, today we only saw some ducks and a lone pelican. |
| Underneath the two cypress trees we found the little shack and a ranger who explained that this was a staging area for the next tour and "let me tell you about these items that are on display here". The kids had lots of questions and we had an interesting few minutes to learn about the environment, what had been found here, how the Indians and grizzly bears lived off this land, while seals and whales abounded offshore. A life size picture of a male elephant seal showed why it was given that name. |
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Ken,
our guide, was very informative. The elephant seals, although very
similar to harbor seals and other sea mammals, are quite unique in some
aspects. The males can weigh up to 5000 pounds and be as much as sixteen
feet long. When reared up on its front flippers, a dominant male can be
eight feet tall. Fighting off other males to protect its harem, an alpha
male will be no match for any Suma wrestler. At sea they travel up to
Alaska two times a year and have been recorded to dive to as much as
5000 feet deep. That is almost a mile down. To do so they can hold their
breath for two hours or more. Yet they always come back to where they were born; Ano Nuevo in this case. This is where they mate and where the pups are born. |
| As we climbed through the sand dunes we could hear the booming bark of the male seals far away. We were getting closer. But then, on top of one dune, we saw this poor pelican with, what appeared to be, a broken wing. We detoured around it and Ken later notified a ranger to see what they could do to help the poor animal. |
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| Then we came across our first seals. Two young males, not old and big enough to mate, were lying in small puddles several hundred yards from shore. We passed between them and then, closer to the ocean, we saw this pup by itself. Ken told us that they are about seventy pounds when born and quickly grow while the mother weans them for only a month or so. Then they are on their own. |
| Standing on top of the dunes we could see several hundred seals on the beaches. During the peak season, a few weeks from now, this place may have thousands of the animals crowding along the dunes and beaches. As more seals come ashore, the males will be putting their harem together. The alpha males attract the females with their roar, overall size as well as the size of the snout. We were told that a male could have anywhere from ten to forty females to keep satisfied. No wonder they would loose a lot of weight. We watched as sporadic fighting took place between males to protect their chiefdom. Young pups could be seen all around them. Generally, though, they were just resting and sunning themselves. |
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On the way back, the six of us decided to take a narrow path to the beach shown above. Here we found some seals by themselves. Heeding the sign about keeping our distance, I took some pictures of this large male. It was about ten to twelve feet long. |
| A "petrified" seal was just the place for a picture, and as the sun set over the ocean we had to make our way back to the car and home. |
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